revealing the elephant in the online classroom

Why people matter: elephant spotting in the

online classroomCNHS PD day presentation

Jon Dron, TEKRI, June 2011

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Pennant_Thomas_Hist_of_Quadrupeds_1793-Elephas.png

Thursday, 9 June 2011

• About learning technologies

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/ElephantJoyRide.jpg

“a field involved in the facilitation of human learning through the systematic identification, development, organization, and utilization of learning resources and through the management of these processes” (AECT, 1972)


What is a technology?

“Orchestration of phenomena to our use”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Ww1-elephant.jpg

“The way things are done around here” (Ursula Franklin)

“A combination of artefacts and what you do with them”

"Something useful produced by a mind"

"Something that doesn't quite work yet"

"Anything invented after you were born"


Pedagogies are technologies

“a field involved in the facilitation of human learning through the systematic identification, development, organization, and utilization of learning resources and through the management of these processes” (AECT, 1972)


What is a learning technology?

Pedagogies

MethodsProcesses

Techniqueslearning designs

Organizational structures

Softwarehardware

management systems

assessment systemsThursday, 9 June 2011

Soft and hard things


tensions

path dependencies

Hard technologies solidify history

Hard is easy

the adjacent possible

Soft technologies open out the future

freedom

Soft is hard

flexibility freedom from error

Soft Hard


Moodle- soft for whom?

•M

artin Dougaim

as•

plugin developers•

system adm

ins•

course developers•

teachers

•students

Soft Hard


Instructivist

Constructivist

Connectivist

holist

Pedagogical patternsSoft Hard


Hard is easy


Soft is hard


Revealing the elephant

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Marc-elephant.jpg


Remember your best teacher?

• tell the person (s) next to you


Dialogue is good

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Putting elephants to work in AU

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Elephant_at_work.jpg


Traditionally...

• tutors, phone, email

• isolated forums

• err.... that’s about it

• but it gets worse....


Dialogue v Structure

Dialogue

Structure


Design for control

Learner control

Teacher control

Negotiated control

structuredialogueautonomy

Collective control


The Landing

• a soft place

• made of hard pieces and soft pieces


Knowing what is happening

Knowing what others are doing and thinking

Supporting course sharing and interaction

Committees, centres, programs, study groups, hobbies, interests, leisure, research groups, newsletters

Finding interesting people

Sustaining dialogue and communities

Feeling less alone

Blogs

Wikis

File sharingMicroblogs (like Twitter)

Discussion

Photo and media sharing

Podcasting

Bookmark sharing

Sharing ideas

Collaborating

Commenting

Aggregating

http://landing.athabascau.ca

GroupsSharing

discoveries


Sounds a bit like Facebook?

• Ownership - it’s yours

• Trust - everyone is known

• Control - (especially privacy and access)

• Focus - on AU (institutional integration)

• The social network is a feature, not a destination

• If you don’t pay for the product you are the product


Sounds a bit like Moodle?

• No special roles: everyone is equal (you, students, learning designers, admins, etc)

• Anyone can create and share, whenever, however, with whoever

• Soft, flexible, ad hoc, responsive, malleable

• Extends beyond the course boundaries

• Persists beyond the course (people and stuff)


Design patterns

• Automate

• Replace

• Filter

• Limit

Soft Hard

• Adapt

• Aggregate

• Recommend

• Extend


Not a panacea

• confusing

• complex

• revealing

• loss of teacher control

• lacking boundaries

• serendipitous, connecting

• powerful

• highly controllable access

• empowers learners

• opens borders


https://landing.athabascau.ca
